Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of its wonderful characters belong to JK Rowling
Despite the now late hour Harry found he couldn't go back to sleep after that and decided to get up and wander around the house. He'd been able to process, after calming down a bit, that the spell had said his birth mother's maiden name had been Black and that Sirius had mentioned she was his cousin during his earlier rant. It now made sense as to why the house's magic had welcomed him. Ron and Hermione had told him earlier that this house had been in Sirius's family for a long time and Harry was now a part of that family. It was disheartening to Harry to discover that now that he had an actual blood tie to Sirius it seemed Sirius no longer wanted anything to do with him.
Harry made his way silently through the hallways and made his way back downstairs. He was stopped by the most ancient house elf he had ever seen.
"Mistress has commanded Kreacher to give young Master Antares the locket Kreacher's Master gave him. She has said that young Master Antares is the only one who should have it. It is going against the orders of Kreacher's Master since he told Kreacher to destroy it but Kreacher must obey his Mistress. He must give the locket to young Master Antares," the little insane creature muttered to itself before shoving a large silver locket with an S made of emerald stones into Harry's hands.
Before Harry could question the old, mad elf it had disappeared with a soft pop. There was a soft pulse of magic emanating from the locket and it filled Harry with a strange warmth. The magic had that same familiar but foreign feel that he had felt when entering the house yet slightly different. He decided it must be some Black heirloom or something. He didn't know why Kreacher's Mistress had decided to give it to Harry but he pocketed it anyway. Harry thought that the Mistress Kreacher spoke of must have been the portrait he'd seen in the hallway earlier and decided to go question her about it. The house elf had also called him by a name. At the very least she must know who he was and he wanted answers.
He made his way towards the portrait. Before he could reach it the curtains covering the portrait were yanked open and he was suddenly face to face with the slightly deranged looking witch.
"Did that despicable house elf give you the locket?" the portrait demanded.
"Yes, ma'am could you tell me why you wanted him to give it to me?" Harry asked hoping that by being polite it would keep her from shrieking and drawing the attention of the others in the house.
"It's Salazar Slytherin's locket. I saw that the house elf has been carrying it about ever since my youngest son died but I saw no harm in it until now. I had believed there were no more living descendants of Slytherin's after the demise of the Dark Lord and it has only been recently that he has managed to reclaim a body. When I saw you, however, I knew it was only right that Kreacher give the locket to you," replied the portrait.
"So you knew who I am? How? Who are you?" asked Harry.
"Oh yes, I knew who you were the moment I saw. You look just like him when he was school," replied the portrait knowingly.
"Him?"
"Why Tom Riddle of course. I was in Hogwarts at the same time as he was. Such a brilliant young man. At first no one even knew anything about him but I could see something special in him, he had ambition and a vision. Others thought he was just a poor mudblood orphan but he quickly proved them all wrong. He was so smart, charismatic and handsome. Everyone soon loved him. It didn't hurt that he was incredibly powerful. Yes it wasn't long before everyone realized that one day he would be a force to be reckoned with," she continued sounding almost like one of the girls at Hogwarts when they were describing the boy they fancied.
"Is that the only way you knew who I was? Did you know me personally or anything?" Harry questioned remembering that the elf had called him a name.
"I knew you were his son by appearance and I knew that the Dark Lord only had one child so you had to be him. Your birth was very hush, hush but I knew because I am Walburga Black and your mother was my niece, Bellatrix. Not many were privy to such knowledge but she was so excited and we Black's guard our family secrets closely. Bella was such a lovely girl it's no wonder he chose her the bear his heir. She was always quite clever and a very skilled dueler, not to mention dedicated. It's no wonder she quickly became one of the Dark Lord's most trusted followers. Then they became lovers and well before long you were on the way. It was believed that you died in a fire. It was quite a surprise to see you walk through those doors today."
"I can imagine," murmured Harry wondering what it meant if Walburga thought that he had died in a fire.
"What will you do now that you know?" questioned Walburga.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean now that you know who you really are? It is your duty as a Black to take your proper place in our society. My own sons were both such a disappointment, you must bring the honor and glory back to the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black," she demanded fervently.
"If bringing back the honor and glory of the Blacks involves torturing and killing muggles and muggleborns I think I'll have to pass," said Harry dryly.
"So you're going to follow the same path as my blood traitor sons. Sirius and Regulus both paid high prices for their involvement with the Light. Sirius was thrown into Azkaban without even a proper trial simply because he was Black and a Dark wizard. No one even questioned the fact that he had joined the Dark Lord despite all the times he had proved just the contrary. Even I knew better and I hated the boy. He was utterly and sickeningly loyal to the Potters. And Regulus the moment he went against the Dark Lord he died. Do you think you will be any different boy? The Light will turn against you too. They hate anything having to do with the Dark and you're as Dark as they come now. So where will you turn when they throw you out?" she asked cackling.
Harry backed away from the portrait feeling a bit spooked by her words. Ron had already turned against him on the basis of his blood. How many more would? Surely others would know better? The thing about Sirius also unsettled him a bit. Was it true that he had never had a trial? Couldn't they have just used Veritaserum to prove whether or not he was really guilty? These thoughts plagued Harry as he moved quickly away from the portrait of Walburga Black. She had given him many things to think about, some he didn't really even want to contemplate. Like his friends turning against him and how he had ended up with the Potters when everyone else had believed he'd died. These thoughts were still plaguing him when he drifted off to sleep.
The next morning he woke up, alone, in his room in Grimmauld Place. It seemed that Hermione hadn't been able to convince Ron to come back and sleep in the same room as the wicked and evil son of Voldemort. Not that he cared. No, not one bit. Harry wasn't even sure if he wanted to get up, if he wanted to face anyone. But what else could he do? He couldn't exactly hide in here forever now could he?
Gathering his courage he got up and got dressed. He needed some new clothes, he noted. While he still needed a belt for the pants they were too short at the legs now. In the end he threw on a pair of slacks that he normally wore under his school robes. With nothing left to do and no more excuses to stay he made his way downstairs.
The moment he stepped into the crowded kitchen it was struck by a sudden silence. Harry looked around and found that all of the Weasleys were present as well as Sirius, Remus and 'Don't Call me Nymphadora' Tonks.
"Good morning Harry," Hermione said brightly, forcing a smile when it became apparent that no one else was going to say anything to him.
"Good morning Hermione," Harry replied, giving her a grateful smile back.
He moved to sit beside her and he couldn't help but notice the way that Ginny flinched as he sat between them. You would have thought he was a proved murderer by the stares people were giving him. He helped himself to some eggs and tried to ignore them and the awkward silence that seemed be suffocating the room.
"Did you sleep well Harry?" Remus asked attempting to diffuse the situation.
Harry's gaze flicked to Sirius who was sitting beside Remus but Sirius seemed to be making a point to look anywhere but directly at Harry.
"Fine," Harry mumbled looking back at his plate.
"You know we're cousins Harry," said Tonks brightly, her hair suddenly turning a bright cheery yellow.
"Really?" asked Harry startled. He was surprised that she had made a reference to the subject that everyone else seemed steadfast in ignoring.
"Yup, your mum and my mum are sisters. They had a bit of a falling out but that doesn't mean we can't get along. I've always wanted to get to know a bit more about my mum's side of the family. Now look I have you and cousin Sirius too," she said nudging Sirius with her shoulder and smiling.
It was an obvious attempt to get Sirius to interact with Harry. But it had the opposite effect. Sirius stood up and mumbled about needing to do something and left the kitchen without a second glance. Harry's eyes followed him wishing that he would come back, that he would just come back and tell Harry that everything was going to be alright, that he still cared about him. It didn't happen.
After breakfast the twins took the initiative and started a conversation about some of their new joke products. They seemed to have no problem joking and talking with him and tried to get the others involved. For once even Hermione was on board about talking about pranks and she and the twins tried to engage Ron and Ginny as well.
"Come on Ronniekins," said Fred.
"Why are you being such a spoil sport?" asked George.
Ron mumbled something incomprehensible.
"Didn't quite catch that baby brother," said Fred.
"I said how can you all act like nothing's happened!?" Ron demanded loudly.
"What do you mean Ronnie?" asked Fred.
"What's happened?" continued George.
"You know what's happened. He's changed," Ron snapped back.
"You don't say," said Fred and he and George both took their time looking over Harry as if they were doing it for the first time.
"I guess you're right, he does look a bit different. Wouldn't you say Fred?"
"I suppose so George," agreed Fred sounding a tad uncertain.
"Oh you're both completely barmy. I don't just mean physically. He's just different now and I can't believe you don't see it. I can't believe that you would think he's the same person now that he's You-Know-Who's son."
"I am still the same person Ron. If you can't see that then it's your problem," Harry bit out angrily.
"But you are different don't you see that? You can never go back to what you were before. And to make things worse you look just like him," Ginny said glaring at him in disgust.
"I can't help the way I look. I'm still the same on the inside," said Harry.
"But you're a Dark wizard now and everyone knows that Dark wizards can't help but go bad," replied Ron.
"I can't believe this. Either of you, I've saved both of your lives and you really think I would become a Dark wizard just because my real parents aren't who we all thought they were," Harry cried.
"You don't get it; you already are a Dark wizard. It's just the magic that you're born with. You won't be able to help it. You'll be just as bad as your parents before long," said Ron with an air of superiority and that was the last straw for Harry.
"I guess then there's no problem with me doing this then," Harry snarled and he drew his wand.
He wasn't prepared for the violent reactions. Even Hermione and the twins flinched away from him in slight fear and that killed something inside Harry.
"What do you think you're doing?" Mrs. Weasley shrieked a look of wild fear in her eyes as she came into the room and saw Harry with his wand in his hand.
Before maybe she would have asked all of them what had happened to make Harry pull his wand. Now she just leveled Harry with a condemning look as if she had already made up her mind and Harry was the guilty party. Yes it hadn't been smart drawing his wand in anger but he hadn't done anything with it and it had only been to prove a point. Well it seemed he'd proven a point, just not the one he intended. They were all afraid of him now.
Harry whirled on his heel and quickly climbed back upstairs to his room. He spent some time reading to try and clear his thoughts. He found the Black family library and started going through some of the books. He found a few on Dark magic and snuck them back to his room so that he could learn more about it. Ron had mentioned that it was something you were born with. That was something that he had never heard of before and it was definitely something he wanted to learn more about.
The day passed in this manner. Hermione and Remus had both come by to get him to come out and talk with the Weasleys but he ignored them. He wasn't ready to face the Weasleys right now. It still hurt too much and then there was the added fact that Sirius too, had turned away from him. So it wasn't until later in the night that he realized he had only had breakfast. With his stomach rumbling he made his way towards the kitchen where softly hissed voices were emanating from. Curious Harry paused and moved to eavesdrop.
"I just can't believe this Moony," came Sirius's distraught voice.
"It's a lot to take in Padfoot but think about how Harry is taking this. He must be completely devastated," replied Remus.
"How did this even happen? I mean we both saw Lily and James at the hospital with Harry. We held him right after he was born for Merlin's sake! And the only child I knew of Bellatrix ever having was in the winter of 1979 who died in a fire about year later. The times don't match up at all. How could it have possibly worked out with James and Lily ended up with him?" Sirius demanded.
"The dates are a bit off. But I believe that James was present during the raid on Lestrange Manor. It was only about two and half months after Harry's birth," came Dumbledore's voice sounding thoughtful.
"What are you saying Albus?" came Snape's demanding tone.
"I am simply pointing out that James might have come into contact with Bellatrix's child on the night that the child was presumed dead," replied Dumbledore in a calming tone.
"You think James stole Bellatrix's son to pass off as his own?" Sirius demanded outraged.
"That wouldn't explain how Lily was pregnant or that we were at the hospital while Harry was born," said Remus calmly.
"Correct me if I'm wrong but Harry was a bit sickly for a while after he was born wasn't he?" asked Dumbledore still sounding thoughtful.
"Yes Lily hardly let any of us come over let alone be around Harry she was so nervous about making it worse. We hardly ever saw him during those first few months. But by New Year he was completely healthy like nothing was ever wrong…" Remus's voice trailed off as if he was only now connecting the dots. "He was also a bit larger than I expected and more advanced than you would have expected of a child at that age, as if he was older. But Lily assured me it was normal and what did I know about babies?" Remus babbled sounding slightly hysterical now.
"What are you saying Remus? You can't believe any of this," Sirius demanded. "That the real Harry died from his illness and Lily and James just decided to take Bellatrix's baby as a replacement. No I can't believe either Lily or James could be so cruel. I mean I don't like my cousin but stealing her baby just wasn't right. It isn't something that they would do."
"Trust me, I don't want to believe it either but it's the only thing that fits Padfoot," replied Remus sounding distraught.
"So my real godson's dead and my best friend decided to hide this awful fact from everyone and just replace him with a child that he stole from my insane cousin and Voldemort," said Sirius laughing without humor.
Tears were running down Harry's cheeks at this point and Sirius's comment about his 'real' godson broke something inside Harry.
"It would seem so," said Dumbledore sadly.
"So what do we do now? What do we do with Potter? People are going to want to know where Potter's gone and who this new boy is. How do we explain all of this?" Snape demanded.
"We can't let it get out that he is Voldemort's son or that he was once Harry Potter. We will have to remove him to a hidden and safe location," replied Dumbledore calmly.
"You can't just ship him off somewhere, Albus. This isn't right. None of this is his fault," said Remus sounding distressed.
"It will be for his own good Remus. If Voldemort were to discover that Harry Potter is truly his own son it could be disastrous. Right now the only thing keeping Voldemort at bay is the prophecy made about the one who would be born to defeat him. If he discovers Harry Potter is his son he will believe that he cannot be the child the prophecy spoke of and turn his attention towards other matters, which we do not want. Not to mention how demoralizing it will be to the public if they find out that the boy they believed to be their Savior is actually Voldemort's own child. Of course there is another boy the prophecy could be referring to we can only hope that Voldemort will not come after him now," Dumbledore explained calmly.
"No we can't do this to him. He's already been through so much sending him away from everything he knows isn't right," Remus insisted.
Harry couldn't listen anymore; he needed to leave, to get away from all of these people. He raced back upstairs. He packed a small bag with clothes, his invisibility cloak and several essential books. Harry grabbed his wand, a bag full of galleons he had leftover from shopping last year and then he left. He walked out the front door without bothering to look back. He hailed the Knight bus and told them he wasn't bothered with reaching a location yet but just wanted a bed for the rest of the night.
He laid down on the rolling cot bed full of pain and hatred and betrayal. He didn't have anyone he could trust anymore, well maybe expect Hermione and Remus but they couldn't stop Dumbledore from sending him away. Almost everyone else had only liked him when he was the Boy-Who-Lived and now that he was You-Know-Who's-Son he wasn't worth their efforts. He was just someone to be pushed to the side and forgotten. They hated him and he hated them. They had been the closest thing to family he had had thanks to the Dursleys cruelty. He had thought he could trust them but just look at how quickly they had turned on him when they found out he wasn't really Harry Potter.
As for the Potters, he refused to think of them as his parents now, they had stolen him. Sure his parents were dark wizards but that hadn't given them the right to take him and to replace their own dead son! Because that's what they had done, even Sirius had acknowledged the injustice of it. The Potter's son had probably died so they had taken someone else's child to replace him. They had allowed those parents the pain and suffering of believing that they had lost their child. They had taken Harry from his real parents and tricked everyone else into believing he was their son and were probably never even planning on ever telling him the truth! When he thought about their spirits speaking to him in the graveyard that night it made him seethe to think of the way they had continued to lie to him even in death. Eventually Harry forced his racing mind to calm and he settled in for some much needed rest.
